The emergence of CD piracy and illegal file sharing has been reflected in the declining sales that EMI has suffered over the last five years. Accounting for 4.9% of the group’s sales, digital music poses a means through which EMI can recover from its five year sales slump.
With digital expected to account for 25% of industry revenues by 2010, EMI has reason to expect further growth in revenue.
However, just when the company thought it was getting the better of music technology, EMI, along with other big music companies, expressed displeasure over Apple Computer’s flat-rate pricing policy for singles on its iTunes online music store. Ideally, EMI would like to see the introduction of variable pricing next year which would enable it to make strategic decisions about its pricing of new releases and discounts it can implement at its own discretion.
Although technology has often threatened to undermine music companies, for the time being at least, EMI and other music companies alike, can look forward to the greater revenue growth that is likely to emerge out of advances in digital music technology.
